LHD Seven

The fuel cap was machined as two basic pieces.
https://i.imgur.com/QofrGhz.jpg
Then 6 bolts were made for mounting to the car and a ring added around the lock cylinder.
https://i.imgur.com/NMXeOdH.jpg

I made this little back-up light since I removed the factory ones from the rear fenders. I machined an aluminum housing, bezel and double-lock mounting nut, made a light bulb, and found a lens from the parts box to build it all around. The mounting post is steel.
https://i.imgur.com/VLAQGap.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/CV1j03x.jpg

Always a pleasure to watch you work!!

Can you describe your acid etching process? I really like the finish it gives to your machined parts.

I use an old but fine paintbrush to apply the acid, like detail painting, to the desired areas; or if it is the whole part I dunk it in a small cup of it and wait 15-20 seconds then rinse with water. Repeat if necessary.

The hood and rear panel were painted in similar fashion as the other two-tone pieces; primed in white then masked and the first color applied. In this case the blue went down first.
https://i.imgur.com/1HpTxMW.jpg
Then the orange was applied after masking the blue off.
https://i.imgur.com/tt76798.jpg
When I did the sides I found it yielded better results to do the white after the blue and orange so I did it that way on these pieces too. Here is the rear with the decals for the blue and black applied on top of the paint.
https://i.imgur.com/bKDQM5z.jpg

Outstanding work, Mark. :thumbsup:

Trevor

What kind of acid? Are we talking citric or nitric?

Hydrochloric.

The rear fenders were painted the basic same way as well… Blue and orange.
https://i.imgur.com/BTJv4VY.jpg
The white was applied followed by the dark blue decals, then clear coated.
https://i.imgur.com/ygvkkPw.jpg
Clear has been shot on the rear panel and is ready for final buffing.
https://i.imgur.com/QEITOfU.jpg
Same process for the hood and cowl except due to the louvers on the hood being so close to the Gulf logo a light intra-clear was applied that will be sanded out to make the logo smooth under the clear before the final clear is applied.
https://i.imgur.com/mijFhDg.jpg

Rear panel clear coat has been cut and buffed. Rubber gasket and fuel filler installed…
https://i.imgur.com/Eee0mea.jpg

After shooting the final clear on the hood I was quite pleased with the outcome, at first... The graphics came out fine which were my primary focus, but secondarily were the louvers. I did not like the little fillets of clear on the louvers that I expected to pull in as it dried. So I stripped it in the solvent tank and with the paint the filler came off.
https://i.imgur.com/Q4xuu6s.jpg
I redid the body work like the first time, but then thought it needed something more…
I formed and fitted a fairing to the carb opening in the hood out of sheet aluminum.
https://i.imgur.com/9e3amdM.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/zmxvcT1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/cd4kNsq.jpg
I masked off the white and shot the blue.
https://i.imgur.com/b3vSmjF.jpg
Then masked the blue too and shot the orange. Ready for decals…
https://i.imgur.com/BViFcNq.jpg
The decals have been applied. I added some new Caterham lettering I drew and printed for it too.
Still needs to be sanded to fully smooth out the Gulf logo, but I like the louvers better than the last try. Plus it has the new fairing.
https://i.imgur.com/xy8b097.jpg
Clear has been cut and buffed… I am satisfied.
https://i.imgur.com/YNdxVnu.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/sWufwW7.jpg

The rear fenders are done as far as paint and graphics. I still need to add stone guards to the front, after I decide what material/color I want them to be.
The taillight housings were drilled out to accept clear bulbs I made for them, (they are just loosely set in place). I used foil for the reflector panels.
https://i.imgur.com/YaaJNeC.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BUTqaQL.jpg

I machined the valve stems for the wheels in one piece each including the washer, two nuts, stem and cap (plus a mounting pin).
https://i.imgur.com/JtYCf6u.jpg

Fantastic stuff, thoroughly enjoying following this build!

Even though I measured several times and the dimensions were and are correct, they just didn't look quite right when I installed them into the rims. A more common issue than many might realize when making things in scale, sometimes things have to be made out of scale to look like they are in scale. So I made a new slightly smaller set of five. (I already installed one just to see how it looks…)
https://i.imgur.com/SoECuUF.jpg

I found some leftover seats from an older (JPE Seven) model that I didn't use in it to modify for this one.
https://i.imgur.com/vvDufd6.jpg
First I removed the hump and filled in the resulting hole.
https://i.imgur.com/zotwmcQ.jpg
Then I drilled out and chamfered some holes.
https://i.imgur.com/wQwifMn.jpg

The finish is Tamiya Bare Metal Silver that was sanded out then polished with SNJ powder.
Maybe another round of polishing is in order…
https://i.imgur.com/lYPV1ix.jpg

The metal finish wasn't as uniform as I wanted so I clear coated the seats and repeated the process with the SNJ aluminum powder. It's hard to capture in photos, but I think they look better now.
https://i.imgur.com/XV4QjIC.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/W8Fe9nN.jpg

The seat covers were fabricated from vinyl and frisket film.
https://i.imgur.com/e8EPWNW.jpg
The inside has the cloth material for reasons to be revealed later…
https://i.imgur.com/63Be2T3.jpg

I finally got around to finishing the paint work for the cowl…
https://i.imgur.com/yo0WCzr.jpg

I made the rubber pad for the edge of the scuttle from some vinyl tubing I slit down one side.
https://i.imgur.com/QK66a2t.jpg

Scratch-built brass roof, loosely dry fitted together, it doesn't all fit the way it will in the end since some of the panels need to be bolted in place for them to line up properly. But I like the way it is shaping up…
(You can read a step-by-step how-to on how I made the roof in the current Scale Auto Magazine.)
https://i.imgur.com/sosq7br.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Xh7SeLl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/T7i3ZMd.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/tatld2j.jpg

I finally got around to making the seatbelt hardware for the Seven.
It's acid cut brass.
I drew the parts and made a resist (in black) then burned the parts out of the sheet.
https://i.imgur.com/HbELq5l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/UdM2ACO.jpg

I modified the Tamiya anchor pieces by thinning them and filing the slots to accept a scale 2.5 inch wide belt instead of the 2.0 they normally accept. Top ones are roughed out; bottoms are "factory" sized slots.
https://i.imgur.com/B8VTV1Z.jpg


I machined these buckles on my mill. The kit parts would lose integrity if they were widened to accept the wider belts I plan to use. They are in primer here ready to be cleaned up.
https://i.imgur.com/ybpavIs.jpg

I didn't like the way the polished metal finish looked on the seats after they had been sitting for a while. They lost some of their luster and were becoming slightly splotchy looking. So I polished off the aluminum powder finish and Bare Metal Foiled them.
https://i.imgur.com/UzrulPg.jpg

I machined aluminum snaps to fasten the seat covers to the seats.
https://i.imgur.com/ZpsubRz.jpg

I decided after I made the seat belt hardware to make the passenger side all clipped together. So I created new artwork and acid cut a new connected piece from brass for the buckles. This is it fresh from being cut.
https://i.imgur.com/MydOQMg.jpg

The driveline tunnel was textured to look like it was shot with an epoxy bed liner and painted Wolf Blue, and then the raised rivet detail was scraped off to show the raw aluminum.
https://i.imgur.com/KzRgBtQ.jpg

I also painted the interior panels Wolf Blue and then hand painted the rivet detail in silver.
https://i.imgur.com/bDE6eiB.jpg

The harnesses are ready to install. Except for the reworked anchors they are fully scratch-built. The driver's side lap belts are already in the car as I needed to use them to determine the lengths of the latched passenger side ones.
https://i.imgur.com/pNbzJ9H.jpg

As always, my friend...a masterpiece...Hope to see it next year at the GSL...

Thank you! I'll bring it whether it is done or not...

I thought I could get away with only machining the snaps, (male and female) for the lower front parts of the seats. Until I installed them and realized that since I polished the rear panel it acted as a mirror and the back snaps (or lack thereof) were clearly visible in the reflection.
So I went back to the lathe to make another eight parts…
https://i.imgur.com/e9RgfQr.jpg

I see...but, I guess you have more than plenty of time to finish it since now we are almost a year before to the GSL date...I know will have this on time...Its turning out great!

There is still a lot of fabricating to do. I'd like to have it done in time, but it gets done when it gets done. "Real" work comes first...

The start of a scratch-built brass removable "fiberglass" hardtop. See the June 2018 issue of Scale Auto magazine for the step-by-step how it was made…
https://i.imgur.com/oYZw2bi.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/nNv5zIr.jpg

Wow, brass roof is super cool. Absolutely love it.
How many of these have you built now? Just curious.
Superb work all around.

How many Sevens...? Who counts... Good question though.
I think this is the 8th one in 1/12 using a Tamiya kit in some way, and there's the last one in 1/12th that was 100% scratch-built. (One was built and given to Mr. Tamiya Sr, another was done for a prominent collector, so I only have Seven 1/12s.)
I just built one for Scale Auto magazine as a Prisoner Edition.
I've done at least four 1/24 scales and at least two 1/64ths.
So that's 15.
But for some reason I think there may be more...
https://i.imgur.com/r7WdJvf.jpg

Yeah, I remember some of the ones you mentioned.

Test fitting to the body.
https://i.imgur.com/qNLRmhc.jpg
Added some flanges and mounting points…
https://i.imgur.com/4JN05Tj.jpg
I acid cut the opening for the rear window.
https://i.imgur.com/Gv8YC33.jpg
I also acid cut the frame that will hold the rear window in.
https://i.imgur.com/rswk8Lg.jpg

Could you please elaborate a bit on acid-cutting or point to where I could read about the technique?

Page 28 of the July 2018 Scale Auto magazine.
The article is six pages starting on 24 with about 45 photos showing step-by-step how it was done.

Page 28 of the July 2018 Scale Auto magazine.
The article is six pages starting on 24 with about 45 photos showing step-by-step how it was done.

Thanks, will try to hunt it down.

It's the one with two Ford Broncos on the cover, if that helps...

I started the dash when I did the basic conversion to left-hand drive. It was intended to be just a blank place holder but I decided to use it anyway.
First I trimmed out the bottom edges and then I started making the holes for the gauges.
https://i.imgur.com/JhTL3e6.jpg

I decided on three different sizes of Auto Meter gauges.
https://i.imgur.com/nAAprsd.jpg

Looking great!

After Swiss cheesing the dash I reinforced it on the back (front?) with .020 x .070 thick strips before risking a fracture.
https://i.imgur.com/Lzkkucp.jpg

The gauges will be Auto Meter brand. I started off with the tach and speedo and a small vacuum gauge.
https://i.imgur.com/vVLjNKO.jpg
They are milled so the lenses will mount from the inside like the real ones.
https://i.imgur.com/SXerYrW.jpg

The water temp, oil pressure, volts and fuel housings were roughed out next…
https://i.imgur.com/KZoWUnx.jpg

That's how it was when cars were not run by computers - lots of gauges!

I made the needles for each gauge. They are different sizes and proportions because the gauges are three different sizes and two of the mid-sized ones are electrical and two are mechanical. (They are really small.)
https://i.imgur.com/eZiOTzp.jpg

These are the lenses I made for the gauges. The one for the vacuum gauge lens is already installed. The hole in the one is for the reset knob for the trip meter.
https://i.imgur.com/DxQdwBW.jpg

These are the gauge faces. I machined the parts and drew the art and printed them out. The needles are mounted to shafts (like real ones).
https://i.imgur.com/ppoB0TS.jpg

As much as I know the scale, would love to see a coin or something alongside to give perspective. Your work is immaculate and I think true appreciation would be given if there was something for scale.

Personally, I can only dream of having your skills!

Thank you Ray! Next post I'll include "the big ruler".

The reset knob for the trip odometer. Three pieces.
The largest part of it is .030 in diameter and has the ribs machined into it.
https://i.imgur.com/Pet3NQo.jpg

The gauges are done for now and loosely fitted to the dash.
https://i.imgur.com/apE8d14.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5JHPTcn.jpg

See, now that ruler gives the size a whole new perspective and makes the detail even more impressive! I have no idea how you work with pieces that small, I am completely in awe!

Very impressive set of gauges!

Thanks guys!

I started machining the switches for lights, blinkers, key, starter and windshield wipers.
https://i.imgur.com/G1qjlcC.jpg

Key switch for the ignition is done.
https://i.imgur.com/wrT9EIp.jpg

love the attention to detail with that dash! I'm guessing you're going to make a key too?